The Gran Grimoire
by Ninja Caterpie
Summary: Head over heels in love with the long-gone Luso, Adelle finds a way into his world. AdellexLuso
1. Chapter 1

**So, this is my second FFTA2 fic in a few days. I'm on a roll!**

**This one is about Adelle trying to find a way into Luso's "real" world.**

**Enjoy! C&C!**

**Just remember; there are TWO parts to this fic.**

**-----------**

There was a quick rapping, five successive knocks, on the door and Lezaford turned around. His wizened yet lively eyes darted across to the door at the other side of the room.

"Who is it?" he called out, quickly sliding the book he was holding back onto his shelf and picking up his staff.

"It's me," came the voice from outside.

"Ah! Adelaide! Come in, the door's not locked," Lezaford said as he hopped down the small staircase towards the door.

It opened to reveal a slender, white-haired girl. She gave a wan little smile and sat down in one of the large green armchairs by the fire. Lezaford sat on the other.

"You seem troubled," Lezaford noticed, furrowing his brow. "What is the matter?"

Adelle went straight to the point. "Do you know where the Grimoire of the Rift is?"

Lezaford's eyes widened at the mention of the Grimoire that Luso had once possessed. Luso...Luso Clemens. He was a funny kid, always in the mood for adventure. He came from another world, and Lezaford had an inkling of an idea what Adelle wanted to do with his diary Grimoire.

He gave a reassuring smile as he spoke. "No, I honestly have absolutely no idea where the Grimoire is. It disappeared when Luso left, remember?"

"Ah."

"You wanted to go to his world, don't you?"

Crestfallen, Adelle nodded sadly, "But it looks like I can't now, doesn't it?"

Lezaford thought for a while and answered with what Adelle detected as a hint of uncertainty. "There is one thing that I think would work."

"What is it?" Adelle asked quickly. "However dangerous, I'll do whatever it takes to get it."

"The Gran Grimoire."

The words obviously had some meaning to the other, as her eyes widened and a little gasp escaped from her lips.

"And you know where this Grimoire is?" she asked, amazed at the Archmage's knowledge.

"More or less, yes," Lezaford smiled. "But before we start planning anything, I need to tell you something. You do realise that when, or if, you do go over to Luso's world, you'll lose your powers as a Gifted One, right? You'll be a normal hume, prone to disease, to death; a mortal. Even if you come back, you'll not get back your powers."

Adelle considered what Lezaford had said for a moment, and decided upon an answer. "What's the point of living life if there's nothing to live it for?"

Lezaford was about to answer when Adelle giggled and added quickly, "You must be thinking I'm crazy, don't you? Giving up all this for a childish crush." She sighed.

Lezaford answered with surprising sincerety. "No, not at all. The path of a Gifted One is a long and arduous journey. Often, one does not have the strength to carry onself through it. No doubt you have heard of such members of the Gifted family; ones who were destroyed by their power?"

Adelle nodded. "But _I _have the strength to go through. You told me yourself."

"Ah, yes, that is true. Still, you are not at all foolish, or crazy.. Some can't deal with the power, some don't want to, and others simple want to be normal."

"Normal?" Adelle's laugh was piercing, and Lezaford flinched. "Lezaford, you know that no matter where I go, even if I'm not a Gifted One, I'm still far from normal."

Lezaford nodded in agreement. "Shall we go then? To the Gran Grimoire."

Adelle nodded and Lezaford tapped the ground with the end of his staff. The blue magicite crystal on the top of his staff exploded into light.

When the light cleared, the two people who had previously been standing there had disappeared.

***

They reappeared in some very far away cavern – one which Adelle had never seen in all her years of exploration. The strange grey rock covered in moss seemed awfully familiar, however. When Adelle looked up, she realised with a start that there was no ending to the top of the cavern. The walls just went on forever.

"Where are we?" she asked, suddenly feeling a little nervous.

"Jagd Zellea," Lezaford replied simply. "But don't worry, there aren't going to be any rifts opening here. I've simply taken us to where the Gran Grimoire is kept well hidden."

Adelle nodded and pointed at the opposite end of the large cavern. There stood a large red chest, plated with gold. "Is that where it's kept?"

Lezaford laughed. "My, my, no! You wouldn't think the most powerful magick tome in all of Ivalice would be put in a large, conspicuous treasure chest, would you? No, no, no. It's hidden somewhere else."

Adelle nodded and looked around. She noticed something, and was about to speak when a group of warriors appeared from nowhere.

"Ah, Lezaford. Come to betray our secret, have you?"

Lezaford grinned. "Not particularly, old chap. I'm just here to help this lass here with a request."

The leader of them, a young-looking man with a faded brown cap, stared at Adelle and she gasped, "Lennart?"

"Adelaide," he muttered. "You're have so much power. Join us. We're all Gifted and we guard the secrets of Ivalice. Come!"

Adelle gave a wry smile. "Nah, I think I'll show you my power from the other side of the battlefield."

She reached for her scabbard, only to find it had disappeared. "H-hey! Where's my dagger?"

"Ah, that would be my fault," Lezaford answered, looking slightly ashamed. "I didn't think we would have to fight, so I left..." He trailed off as Adelle glared at him.

"Oh well, that's no matter," Adelle said. She reached down and pulled two matching knives from her boots. She slashed them against each other, creating a spark, and readied herself for battle. "Bring it on, Lennart. I've beaten you before, I can do it again."

"Your modesty, or lack thereof, is rather perturbing," Lennart said with as little expression as possible.

Adelle gave a little curtsy. "I try."

Lennart shook his head. "I can't bring myself to fight you though. None of us can. Not when you have part of us in yourself."

He lifted his bow and summoned a group of monsters before teleporting away. Each of the other Gifted Ones followed suit, apart from one of them.

"Ldja..." Adelle murmured. "Aren't you going with them?"

The viera smiled and nodded, her long brown ears bobbing up and down. "It has been many a while since I have seen you, Adelaide, yet you have not grown at all in charm as you said you would."

Adelle laughed. "I don't need to. Too much charm can break hearts rather than make them. Anyway...I don't need charm. Not anymore."

The Viera smiled and simply nodded as she held up her rapier and disappeared in a flash of light.

Adelle looked around and took in all of the monsters that Lennart had summoned. They looked strangely familiar – then Adelle realised.

"These are monsters that we've fought in the clan! Ones that were on wanted notices!"

Lezaford couldn't help but be impressed by her sharp eye and nodded. "Indeed they are. It appears Lennart is trying to strike you where it matters – in your memories."

Adelle grinned. "Well, it sure isn't going to work. I've beaten these monsters before, I'll do it again. Even without the clan."

Lezaford nodded. "Adelle, I must leave you for a short amount of time. This is not my battle to fight, it is yours. Just call, however, and I will come."

Adelle nodded as he teleported away. She surveyed the battlefield and took in the monsters. Two large blue Bloody Orbs, a deep red Mutadragon, a werewolf and a Tonberrion King.

She slid up to the nearby royally-clad purple Tonberrion King alluringly with a strange smile on her face. She mouthed a kiss and blew it away, forming a strange pink heart-shaped bubble, which hit the Tonberrion squarely on the head. It swayed and its eyes, which usually showed only a deep bloodlust, now showed nothing but adoration for the girl.

The beguiled creature turned around, ready to sacrifice its life for the girl it loved.

Adelle, however, showed no such mutuality. "Never again," she spat, wiping her mouth of the odd feeling Ldja's power had given her.

"Now," she said, readying her daggers. "It's time to fight!"

Adelle threw one of her knives at the nearest Bloody Orb, striking it straight between the eyes, killing it instantly. She dashed forward, leapt up and struck the second in the same place before it could react.

Pulling two bloodied daggers from the Bloody Orbs, she looked around. "Well? Come and get me!"

The death of the Bloody Orbs had caused the other monsters to drive into a frenzy. The great red Mutadragon roared, "Insolent creature!" The werewolf howled and lunged directly at Adelle.

She crossed her daggers, raising them in defense and caught the purple beast's claws in them. She smiled and flicked.

The werewolf roared in surprise and in pain as the petit hume girl smashed him into the ground. Angrily, it swung its sharp, blade-like claws down and was blocked by Adelle's daggers. Roaring, it tried again and was once again deflected by the Heritor.

Meanwhile, the deluded Tonberrion King was fighting the Flaresky Mutadragon. Adelle turned to see it repetitively stabbing the screaming dragon. No wonder they were described as heartless, methodical killers. The Tonberrion was doing just that.

This minor distraction was what the werewolf had been looking for and it struck Adelle in the back of head. She gave a yelp as she was thrown a metre through the air and came crashing down heavily on the rocky grey floor of the cavern.

"That's it," she muttered as she picked up her daggers. "No more nice girl."

She swung forwards heavily and landed a glancing blow on the werewolf's head. An idea flashed into her mind and she lifted her blade, charging energy into it. The blade crackled with electrical charge and she brought it down on the werewolf.

Electricity coursed through its body and sparks leapt from every hair. It roared in pain and crumpled to its knees, immobilised by the intense electric shock it had recieved.

Once she was satisfied that the beast was unable to move, Adelle began to tend to her wounds. The werewolf had ripped a deep gash into her weaker arm and she began to heal it with magick. She held her right hand over the wound and blue sparks twinkled down onto the gash, sealing it almost immediately. She looked towards the Tonberrion. It had defeated its prey and was now proceedingto attack its next target.

What she didn't know was that, as its final act, the crimson Mutadragon had casted dispelling magick, causing the Tonberrion King to snap out of its delusions. Adelle didn't know that the Tonberrion king wasn't targetting the werewolf – it coming for _her. _Even Lezaford didn't notice until it was too late.

Adelle suddenly felt a sharp pain in her back and looked down to see the pointy end of a Tonberrion's deadly knife sticking out of her chest. Pain coursed through her body and she screamed in agony as she crumpled to the ground. As a fleeting thought, she remembered that she had left the clan – there was no longer a judge to protect her.

_Luso...I've failed..._


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here it is, the second part of the fic. This bit's probably going to be somewhat lighter than the first half. :D Sorry for taking like an entire year to finish part 2.**

I

Lezaford fell to the ground and swung his staff at the Tonberrion King. A bolt of lightning shot out of the tip and, forking into two, hit both the Tonberry and the werewolve squarely between the eyes. As the electrical energy hit them, it surged through their bodies, frying their vital organs and instantly killing them.

He rushed over and knelt by Adelle's side, clasping her hand in his and casting restorative magicks.

He wasn't too late, was he? No, he couldn't be...he couldn't be.

With a flicker, Adelle's eyes opened again and she gave a long groan.

"I thought you weren't fighting," she mumbled groggily.

"How do you feel?" Lezaford asked, brows furrowed with worry. "Are you all right?"

Adelle groaned again. "My back hurts."

Lezaford laughed and shook his head.

"And my head. And my..."

Adelle continued on as Lezaford simply smiled. Adelle was back. That was good.

Lezaford cut Adelle's ranting and his healing off with a snap and said curtly, "Let us continue onto our target." He pointed at the chest at the end of the cavern.

"Didn't you say that was a decoy?"

Lezaford turned bright red and stammered slightly. "I... exchanged the decoy chest for the real one while you were battling."

"Anyway," Adelle continued, "Don't I have to pass the test?"

"You don't need to pass any test," Lezaford replied. "I would think you've done enough."

"Didn't you—"

"I set the rules," Lezaford continued. "And I dictate that you have passed as much test as I wish to set you."

Adelle nodded. "You know," she added as an afterthought. "This would be kinda like a deus ex machina if it was in a book, wouldn't it?"

"Indeed," Lezaford agreed. "However, this is not a "book"; this our real life. Although the powerful grimoires and other magickal books around here certainly make narrative casuality a factor, I don't think it works on people. And we are people."

Adelle nodded sagely, even though she couldn't understand half of what Lezaford was saying. He did this often, so she didn't think much of it.

The two of them had reached the end of the cavern and Lezaford tapped the chest with his staff. "Open it," he said. Adelle looked at it and gave the lid a pull. It didn't move.

She bent down and, with all of her might, she tried to make the lid go up.

It didn't.

Adelle stopped and puffed for a moment, before pulling her dagger out. She slammed down on the lid with all her might, and the handle went all the way down onto the wood. As she lifted the knife up, her heart sank. Instead of digging into the chest, the knife's blade had instead bent completely. That had cost a lot of money, the knife.

Adelle turned to Lezaford. "Can you open it?"

Lezford smiled. With his staff, he pointed to the lock on the chest. "This is your actual test and I really won't interfere this time."

Adelle nodded as Lezaford stood back. She pulled a pin from her hair and straightened it out. She dropped to her knees and gently pushed the thin piece of metal into the lock. She twisted it a bit and gave a push. Ah, it had been so long since she had last needed to pick a lock. It had been a while indeed...

There was a sudden snap, and the hairpin jammed. Adelle furrowed her brow and yanked on the end of the hairpin. It didn't budge. She sighed, and stood back. Much to the surprise of Lezaford, she pulled a long katana from a scabbard hidden under her vest and grinned. "I always keep a few of the Gifted Weapons around in case I need them."

She straightened up and gripped the katana tightly with both hands. Wisps of magickal energy flew from her hands to the blade, and it started to glow. The light crackled as she swung the sword. Adelle brought the blade down to point it at the chest and channelled all the energy she had into it. The glow from the sword grew brighter, until the katana was a blade of pure light into which neither Adelle nor Lezaford could look. Then, her sword exploded.

The glowing magick stored in the blade shot out of the tip and created a huge cone of light which blasted the chest and all the rock surrounding it. The force of the explosion pushed Adelle back and the light didn't fade for quite some time.

Eventually, Adelle got up. She grinned at the sight of the Gran Grimoire somehow untouched by the attack she had unleashed, even though the chest had mysteriously disappeared along with the rock around it. "I've still got it, eh?"

Lezaford nodded mutely and picked up the Gran Grimoire. "Should we go?"

Adelle nodded. With a single tap of his staff on the ground, Lezaford teleported them out back to his cabin.

"You should probably take a rest now, Adelaide," Lezaford said as the girl slumped into one of the armchairs in his main room. "There's a bed upstairs."

Adelle nodded and walked up the stairs. "I'm not tired..." she began as she fell onto the bed. "Not... really that... tired..." She yawned and was silent.

Lezaford smiled. He had work to do.

II

Adelle woke after what seemed like only a few moments. She realised pretty quickly that those few moments had been closer to a few weeks and sighed.

She walked downstairs and opened the door. The heavy Mist, as well as the Goldsun heat, hit her immediately and she shut the door. She yawned again and slumped down into an armchair.

The door opened again and Lezaford entered. "Awake, are we?" Adelle nodded.

"Yes, I have to say, my magickal bed has that effect on people unused to it. Makes them a bit tired after sleeping," Lezaford gave Adelle a smile and gestured. "Let's go now, everything is ready for you to leave."

Adelle nodded silently and they teleported to outside Camoa. Adelle smiled; she knew this place well. This was where she had first met Luso and Cid, and, if she remembered correctly, she'd stolen the credit for the quest they were doing at the time... slaying tomatoes or something of the sort.

"It's a bit...empty," Adelle said eventually.

"Well, do you want a crowd of people watching you as you magickally teleport away from this world?" Lezaford shrugged. "If you do, don't hesitate to ask. I can move."

Adelle shook her head. "Don't worry about it. So, you're just going to read out some incantation and I'm going to go poof and teleport?"

"Something along those lines, yes."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Adelle frowned. If they weren't coming, she didn't want to know. It was best to leave without thinking about it, then.

"That," Lezaford said, pointing toward the sky. A bird-like shape rose from the horizon and was rapidly approaching.

"What..." Adelle began, as the shape grew larger. There was a low rumbling sound, like that of an airship trying to go as fast as possible as it brushed against trees and almost set them on fire.

It slowed as it approached, but not enough, and it overshot the clearing they were in by quite a long way. There was a whine as it tried to turn at high speed and Adelle watched as one of the engines failed and the ship started to spin towards them. It cleared the trees and hit the ground at an angle, eventually grinding to a halt. Five figures clambered out of the cockpit.

"Vaan! You could have gotten us killed! You didn't have to go that fast! Now you've totally wrecked the airship! That cost a lot of money!'

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Penelo. I knew exactly what I was doing. I... er... meant to crash the thing. That was all part of my master plan, right from the beginning."

"Ergh... never again am I riding in one of those..."

"That was exciting, Vaan, kupo! A bit scary though..."

"Kupopo! Adelle!"

The five of them stopped their bickering and got up to walk towards Adelle.

"Heard ye were goin'," Cid explained. "Couldn't let ye go without sayin' goodbye now, could we?"

Adelle smiled, and tears formed in her eyes. "You guys..."

"Kupopo!" It was Hurdy that spoke this time. "I wrote a song for you too, Adelle!"

"Ahem," Lezaford said. "I don't mean to interrupt the celebrations, but I think we should be getting this underway now."

Adelle nodded. "Alright then. Goodbye everyone."

Lezaford opened the Gran Grimoire and began to chant. "Hocus pocus, magick magickent, send Adelle to where Luso went!"

There was a pause. "Is that it?" Adelle asked. Vaan pulled a face and Penelo elbowed him.

"Oh no, of course not!" Lezaford laughed. "Just my idea of a little joke." He began to chant properly as Hurdy began to play. Adelle closed her eyes as a tear leaked from them. The simple melody flowed through the air, and Ivalice filled her thoughts. Her home, all her friends... her life and how she'd lived it... everything would change. She smiled. The clan, Cid, Hurdy, Frimelda, Vaan, Penelo, Frimelda... even that weird Al-Cid guy... The quests... the Gifted ones... she would miss everything.

As Hurdy finished his song, there was a flash and Adelle was gone.

III

Mewt Randelle sighed to himself as he stacked a pile of books and moved them onto a trolley for later returning to the shelves.

A world of magic and monsters, huh... What had that boy... Luso, was it? What had that boy done? Ivalice was in that book. It was closed inside the book, and it was in the past.

Mewt smiled as he remembered the Ivalice he'd been in – his Ivalice. That Ivalice had been his way of escaping the world. His dad had been there, and Marche... and Ritz, too. And there was Marche's brother... Donald? No... Doned. Mewt nodded to nobody in particular. He wondered how is friends were now. It had been a while, certainly, since he had last talked with them.

And then Luso had gone into that world... Mewt thought for a moment. What major people didn't come back...? Ah, that's right. There was that best friend of Ritz', Sharon or something. Marche's friend Montblanc was there too and Mewt's own advisor... He frowned. Why couldn't he remember the person closest to him in Ivalice? He shrugged, once again to nobody in particular. He wondered if Luso had met any of them.

Behind him, he heard pages turn. That was strange. There was no wind in the library... He sighed. "How many times, old boy, have I told you not to-". He stopped mid-sentence as he saw what was behind him. His mouth made a number of movements, but he finall settled on "what?" as the right word to use.

The girl stood there smiling. "Something wrong, mister?"

Mewt's mind went into a whirl as it tried to think properly. Her hair was a familiar white colour... a colour that reminded him of Ritz... but this... she wasn't... Her clothes were normal though; nothing like out of Ivalice... Then again, Luso had been in normal clothes when he'd found him...

"I... you're looking for Luso, I'm guessing?"

IV

"Y'know, guys, it feels kinda empty here without those kids," Cid sighed and sipped his drink.

"I know what you mean, Cid. It's kinda boring without them arguing like a married couple all the time," Vaan spoke with the straightest face he could muster knowing full well the irony of his statement.

Cid gave a loud laugh and choked on his drink. He wiped the tears from his eyes and continued laughing. "Anyway, where are ye plannin' t'go from here?"

"I'll stay," Frimelda Lotice said simply. "You guys practically saved my life, so I owe you."

The masked man beside her grinned. "I cannot but stay here, while my fair maidens are here." He pulled grabbed both Frimelda and Penelo's hands. There were loud coughs from Cid and Vaan that, in the short space of half a second, described all the horrible things that could be done to Al-Cid in a dark alley without fault possibly falling on the two of them. He backed away and decided quickly that it would be smarter for him to go and buy himself a drink.

"Well, we're going back to Rabanastre," Vann ventured.

"The two of ye ain't goin' anywhere!" Cid slammed the table and grinned. "Not until ye've paid off the airship. 100 thousand gil out of the clan coffers needs to go back in, and you're putting it back! Every last gil." Seeing Vaan thinking, Cid shook his head. "An' no stealin', either!"

"Alright then," Vaan sighed. "We'll pay it back." He winced as Penelo stepped on his toe with her slightly-higher-heeled-than-most-boots boot. He knew because he'd bought it. He also knew it hurt, quite a lot.

The two moogles came down the stairs and Cid greeted them. "Are ye stayin' for a bit longer or goin' on home?" There was an objection from Vaan, but it was muffled by Penelo's hand. "Ye've finished ye bauble-huntin', haven't ye?"

"No way, kupo!" Montblanc shook his head vehemently which, Cid had to admit to himself, was quite the sight considering Montblanc had almost as much head as body. "We just heard of these amazing artifacts from the barman! This'll be really great to find, kupo! We're both staying, Hurdy and I."

Cid nodded, and Vaan leaned in as Montblanc and Hurdy sat down. "So," Vaan began. "Where would these great artifacts be?"

"Well, kupo, they're in a place called the Brightmoon Tor..."

V

"Luso, I'm going to go grocery shopping, alright? Do your homework!"

"Yes, Aunt Glenda." Luso Clemens sighed and turned back to his game when he heard the door lock. This was what holidays were for. Gaming. Now if he could just get that next level, he'd be able to...

The doorbell rang. Luso groaned and got up. "Coming!" he shouted and began to trudge down the hall.

When he reached the door, there had been a number of impatient presses and as he opened the door, he yelled out "If you would stop pressing the bloody button that would be really-"

He stopped in mid-sentence and stared at the figure in front of him. Luso's mind didn't work as fast as Mewt's, and it remained blank and open, like his mouth. "I... you...what... g-g-gghost?"

"Um... do you have a hairpin? I kinda lost mine..."

Luso fainted.

VI

When he awoke again, Luso was on his couch. He could faintly hear his aunt's loud voice having a vocal war with Mr Randell's smooth, quiet one. He could imagine what they were talking about. Mr. Randell had come back to check on Luso, maybe talk about Ivalice, and when he arrived, he had found Luso on the floor with a crack in his head, having fainted and died after seeing an apparition. Such a shame, he would be saying, he was a good kid. Smart, and handsome, and really good at studies. Luso smiled. Being dead couldn't be that bad, right?

A head popped into view from above. Oh no...

"Hey, look, he's awake! Hi, sleepyhead."

Luso jerked up and stared at Adelle. "G-g-ghoooost?" was all he could manage.

Adelle poked him. He screamed.

"Luso Clemens," Adelle said, struggling to suppress a laugh, "you scream like a girl!"


End file.
